You got me: I'm now officially a paid subscriber. Thanks for never making me feel like a moocher all those months while I enjoyed your wonderful work for free. Your originality of thought and language and your huge heart are why I'm here.
Well, you just made my day. I'm so glad you have joined the paid group, and I hope you will attend one or more of our Zoom conversations. They are quite alive and loving. It has been a component of this stack never to install a paywall. It's not supposed to be possible to build out a subscription business without one. People like you prove that's not true. xxLaurie
Laurie, i applaud you wholeheartedly for being upfront on the issue of money and art....We have been so conditioned, especially as women, to not even bring up money or ask for what we want or need....i thought of you the other evening when a professional colleague said to me "a friend of mine is doing a reading of a new play and I KNOW you don't work for free BUT...there's a lot of talent surrounding this play and it's only a couple days of rehearsal yadda yadda," etc. It never ends!
Oh, I so hear this pitch! I love the way you expressed it. I'm glad we're using the comments section today to let people air these experiences and understandings. There is also a ton I won't do for money, even when a fair amount is at stake as well as prestige. I still get nudges in pieces I write from editors to shave or edit the way I frame a narrative. I mean as a feminist. My work is strictly take it or leave it, and this surprises some editors more used to, I'm guessing, writers who want to be published more than to express exactly what they set out to express.
Yet another LaurieISM! Speaking of Stone .teenaged friends and I. More than mildly stoned (weed or hash ) front row. Pantages Theatre. Hollywood Blvd. 2001 Space Odyssey. Meaning of life ..?
That is my deep desire. Today, I posted first about money because the stack is a full time job, and I write only in the capacity of a paid worker. I sometimes think this is hard to convey, especially for female humans, who are expected, as part of their gender assignment, to donate their labor in the service of others. That message works away in our minds, or at least in my mind, and it creates anxiety that people won't like you. Men don't feel that way about being paid or about talking about being paid, and therefore men don't have the added pressure that when they solicit payment, they will rile anyone up. I don't know if this is a coincidence, but a few minutes after I posted this today, a woman disabled her account, even though there was time left on her subscription. It's impossible not to wonder if she didn't approve of the fundraising pitch. Richard and I have been hosting Zoom conversations on taking risks, and I thought of this post today as a risk I was taking. xxL
I spent 40 years of my life serving the visions of men - founders of little magazines, good ones, reflecting their passions. One day I said, enough, and began writing for myself. I have had not much success in the "real" world, but I am a good writer and am exploring, at the end of my life, how I have gotten from there to here. Whether I live long enough to complete that arc, and can present "I've been scratching at the door. Here's my journey." I don't know, of course, but the attempt makes this 86th year easier to bear. (And perhaps the past dramas easier to bare!)
Thanks for expanding the lifeboat. This morning, following what you said on Sunday, I lay in bed this morning and thought of everything I loved (long list). It works. Also thanks for shoutout to Francesca Woodman
You got me: I'm now officially a paid subscriber. Thanks for never making me feel like a moocher all those months while I enjoyed your wonderful work for free. Your originality of thought and language and your huge heart are why I'm here.
Well, you just made my day. I'm so glad you have joined the paid group, and I hope you will attend one or more of our Zoom conversations. They are quite alive and loving. It has been a component of this stack never to install a paywall. It's not supposed to be possible to build out a subscription business without one. People like you prove that's not true. xxLaurie
Laurie, i applaud you wholeheartedly for being upfront on the issue of money and art....We have been so conditioned, especially as women, to not even bring up money or ask for what we want or need....i thought of you the other evening when a professional colleague said to me "a friend of mine is doing a reading of a new play and I KNOW you don't work for free BUT...there's a lot of talent surrounding this play and it's only a couple days of rehearsal yadda yadda," etc. It never ends!
Oh, I so hear this pitch! I love the way you expressed it. I'm glad we're using the comments section today to let people air these experiences and understandings. There is also a ton I won't do for money, even when a fair amount is at stake as well as prestige. I still get nudges in pieces I write from editors to shave or edit the way I frame a narrative. I mean as a feminist. My work is strictly take it or leave it, and this surprises some editors more used to, I'm guessing, writers who want to be published more than to express exactly what they set out to express.
Inspiring!
Grateful to be in the lifeboat.
Happy you are here.
You are an incredible human and writer.
What a lovely comment. So tender. Huge thanks. xxL
Yet another LaurieISM! Speaking of Stone .teenaged friends and I. More than mildly stoned (weed or hash ) front row. Pantages Theatre. Hollywood Blvd. 2001 Space Odyssey. Meaning of life ..?
"Remember to write whatever I write as a love letter."
Yes. I feel you as a love letter to the world of women. As an antidote or anecdote to the faces of the men who are free to despise us again.
Well said. Thanks for your support and for helping me stay here. xxL
Please stay.
That is my deep desire. Today, I posted first about money because the stack is a full time job, and I write only in the capacity of a paid worker. I sometimes think this is hard to convey, especially for female humans, who are expected, as part of their gender assignment, to donate their labor in the service of others. That message works away in our minds, or at least in my mind, and it creates anxiety that people won't like you. Men don't feel that way about being paid or about talking about being paid, and therefore men don't have the added pressure that when they solicit payment, they will rile anyone up. I don't know if this is a coincidence, but a few minutes after I posted this today, a woman disabled her account, even though there was time left on her subscription. It's impossible not to wonder if she didn't approve of the fundraising pitch. Richard and I have been hosting Zoom conversations on taking risks, and I thought of this post today as a risk I was taking. xxL
I spent 40 years of my life serving the visions of men - founders of little magazines, good ones, reflecting their passions. One day I said, enough, and began writing for myself. I have had not much success in the "real" world, but I am a good writer and am exploring, at the end of my life, how I have gotten from there to here. Whether I live long enough to complete that arc, and can present "I've been scratching at the door. Here's my journey." I don't know, of course, but the attempt makes this 86th year easier to bear. (And perhaps the past dramas easier to bare!)
Oh, great, Sallie, please come to one of the Zooms if you can. I think they would be fun for you. Lots of people to share your sense of things with.
Thanks for expanding the lifeboat. This morning, following what you said on Sunday, I lay in bed this morning and thought of everything I loved (long list). It works. Also thanks for shoutout to Francesca Woodman
Thanks for this great comment. It does work. xxL